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Sunday, April 27, 2008

I Got Yer Stimulation

So last week we learned from Mr. Bush that the "economic stimulus" checks will be getting into our hot and sweaty hands sooner than expected. As the red 'lectroid said at the end of Buckaroo Banzai -- "Big deal. So what."

The paltry sum of money the government is sending out isn't going to stimulate the economy for more than about 42 minutes. If that much. Because after that money is gone gas will still be $4 a gallon, a loaf of bread will still be over $3, and milk will still cost $4.50 a gallon.

No, instead of this monetary trickery of moving money from one government pocket to another this regime needs to do something to help the average person actually have disposable income over the long term. I'll tell you what is going to happen: once the checks start going out the White House will wait about 4 weeks then report an upsurge in consumer spending, which will be true from a certain point of view, and they will announce their idea was a success even though it wasn't and hope everyone then forgets that gas prices keep rising and food costs keep rising and utility costs keep rising.

What will really stimulate the economy is if the GOP thugs in Congress will get off their obstructionists hobby horses and allow legislation to get be passed that will allow hourly workers to earn a living wage. Companies like Wal Mart, Target, K Mart and other big-box stores all have hiring freezes on, and they are laying off workers, and the workers that have kept their jobs are making less money because their hours are being cut.

Distributing a relatively small amount of money to people who can't afford to pay their utility bills isn't going result in a long term stimulus that brings our economy back to it's feet. We need bold, and different thinking that the GOP simply isn't capable of. We need to elect a Democrat to the presidency (preferably Senator Barack Obama) and increase the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress so the GOP will stop obstructing any attempts at progress. And the first thing that needs to happen is to end this wasteful war in Iraq.